Conte wants Chelsea to control emotions against Man Utd

Lorenzo Powers |Monday, April 17, 2017

Chelsea's 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Saturday helped them maintain a seven-point lead over second-placed Tottenham Hotspur but the latter's run of six consecutive wins has put the leaders under increasing pressure to pick up points.

"I love Tottenham, they're probably my favourite team in the league to watch".

Adam Smith's freakish own goal floored Bournemouth from the off, though Joshua King did fire his 13th league goal of the season, albeit via a deflection.

He was more expansive, though, in warning his players that they must overcome the emotion that will inevitably accompany a trip to Old Trafford to face their former manager.

Conte told BBC Sport after the game: "Our reaction was good, we played in the right way at a time of the season with a lot of pressure".

"Chelsea are an outstanding team and their system works very well for them", said Howe. "For me he's doing an unbelievable job".

"But it's important to go game by game, in this case after our defeat against Crystal Palace, we played Manchester City, and we could drop points, and today we could drop points also".

Asked if United will gain extra motivation by attempting to dent Chelsea's title drive, Conte replied: "I do not know about this, I think Manchester United for sure will have good motivation, because we are playing against Chelsea".

"We have shown all season great character, great desire, great will to fight for the title", he said.

"He is a great player, a great talent and he must understand that he is a great player and never forget this".

Five more wins will be enough to bring the Premier League trophy back to Stamford Bridge, and Alonso says there is a unity of objective among everyone at Chelsea to see it done.

Antonio Conte's side have opened up a commanding seven-point lead at the top of the table with just seven games left to play and remain on course to claim their fifth title of the modern era.

"The group is fantastic", he added.

"We'll be working through Spurs' strengths and weaknesses next week but before that we'll recover after playing against a very tough side".